10 - 16 January 2002
Issue No.568
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 10 - 16 January 2002 Issue No.568 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
No firing, yet
The leaders of India and Pakistan kept at a safe distance at the South Asian summit in Katmandu. But their nations' troops are in much more perilous proximity. Absar Alam writes from the Nepalese capital
Despite political and diplomatic efforts to avoid war, the situation along the Pakistan-India border remains tense, though quiet, as soldiers from both sides eyeball each other across the divide. New Delhi has deployed almost its entire army along the 3,000 km border with Pakistan, moved its air assets close to the frontier airbases, and sent an armada into international waters. Islamabad has also moved its armed forces and military hardware close to the frontier. Indian and Pakistani soldiers have traditionally concentrated at the Line of Control in Kashmir. But during the current crisis, their forces have been strung out along the entire border dividing the two countries.
Brinkmanship aside, no serious clash has taken place between the two armies -- yet. But defence analysts believe that, if the military standoff continues, the situation could turn explosive any moment. To avoid a cataclysm between two nuclear powers, the world is urging them to withdraw as soon as possible.
At Chakothi, near the border with India, Pakistani soldiers in forward trenches are calm but alert. "Pleasant weather, clear environment but no firing," says Captain Amjad Ahmed. Exchanges of fire between the two armies, separated by a stream, were routine until last year, when a cease-fire was announced. "We are enjoying life here," says Ahmed, shrugging off prevailing tension. But the distance between the two armies is so narrow that Indian soldiers can see people moving on the Pakistani side. "Sometime we exchange verbal greetings, or shout," says a soldier wearing winter war uniform.
Mohamed Iqbal, a Pakistani major posted at the front line, says he is not yet anxious. "I'm not tense. I'm performing my duties as a professional soldier," he says. Yet his sang-froid may not last. At Iqbal's forward bunker, Shaheen Post, only combat troops are being deployed: non-combat personnel such as cooks and orderlies have been pulled back due to the danger of war.
India blames Pakistan-based militant groups for the 13 December attack on the Indian parliament and has demanded that Pakistan turn over prime suspect Maulana Masood Azhar, the chief of Jaish-e-Mohamed. Pakistan, though it condemned the attack, has refused to hand over any of its citizens unless India provides evidence of guilt. India has failed to do so, and brushed aside Pakistan's offer to hold a joint inquiry into the incident or allow one to be conducted by the United States security department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In spite of this tension, the monthly meeting between the local commanders from either side who patrol the borders, did take place in the middle of December. Soldiers checked the telephone line which links rival generals, and "local commanders took tea, exchanged pleasantries and checked the telephone line," said Pakistani Brigadier Mohamed Yaqoob, commander of 4,000 troops in the Chakothi sector.
The meeting did not cool temperatures though. "Relations between the two countries are at their worst" said Yaqoob. "This is the most dangerous situation I have ever seen in my career," he added. Yaqoob fears a full-scale war between the two nuclear powers which could be a catastrophe for the entire world.
The townspeople and villagers in the firing line at Pakistan's eastern border are mostly farmers, shopkeepers, and hauliers. They are unwilling to leave their homes, farms, and businesses. Shops were opened, vehicles driven and farms tilled as men worked within view of Indian soldiers. Children went to school and women strode about the rooftops, still awaiting the first snowfall of the season. "People love their homes," Mir Khan, a resident of Chakothi, said. "They don't want to leave their homes, shops, and farms."
Brigadier Yaqoob hopes that better sense will prevail. But he does not rule out the possibility that if war breaks out, the conflict will go nuclear. "With armies deployed so close at the border, eyeball to eyeball, fuelled by mistrust and hate, any small incident could trigger a war that may spin out of control."
Of India's 1,263,000 military personnel, 700,000 are stationed in the disputed Jammu and Kashmir Valley. Pakistan's total strength, on the other hand, is 535,000 military personnel with 60,000 troops deployed in Kashmir. Almost half of India's 3,414 tanks have rolled into the Rajasthan area bordering Pakistan's southern Punjab and Sindh provinces. Pakistan has also moved most of its 2,300 tanks to the border.
India's 760 fighter and bomber aircraft also outnumber Pakistan's fleet of 353 aircraft. But the greatest difference is between the navies of the two countries. With 53,000 personnel, India has 27 ships (including one aircraft carrier), 16 submarines and 109 navy aircraft. Pakistan, with 25,000 personnel, has five surface ships, 10 submarines and 194 aircraft but no aircraft carrier.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page